UT News: Engineering Reaches Into Texas Grade Schools
Last year almost 2,000 students as well as 150 teachers and counselors participated in UT College of Engineering kindergarten through 12th grade outreach programs.
Students launched rockets, built ball tossers and threw water balloons in an effort to learn more about engineering.
"By demonstrating practical applications of science and math, these initiatives introduce the engineering profession to students when they still have time to take the middle and high school courses that better prepare them for college engineering courses," explains Engineering Dean Ben Streetman. "Helping make a positive impact on public school education is now a key focus for the College. We have a number of long-running successful efforts in place and we want to build on those."
Programs range from individual faculty members organizing small-scale efforts with Austin schools to larger statewide programs such as those organized by the Women in Engineering Program. The College’s long-range goal is to establish a kindergarten through 12th grade center to coordinate outreach efforts with the public school community and industry.
The College also offers grade-school teachers and community college counselors programs geared to prepare students for a university. Teachers attend programs such as the Energy and the Environment Workshop, for insight into environmental engineering as well as the practical course material for use later in classrooms. In Access to Engineering, a program co-sponsored by the College’s Equal Opportunity in Engineering office, community college counselors learn more about the options available in engineering and the type of course work needed by transfer students to succeed at UT Austin.
A list of the College's outreach programs is included in this newsletter.
Sixth-graders from Dallas' Merriman Park Elementary School work on their engineering design and construction of a "ball tosser" at the Careers in Engineering for Women program last June.
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